Vado Explains Why He Left Interscope Records

Vado clarifies that he wasn't dropped from Interscope, contrary to rumors.

Vado was on fire back in 2009 after dropping his collaborative mixtape Boss of All Bosses with Cam'Ron in 2009, following with his breakout solo project Slime Flu the following year.

But after signing a deal with Interscope Records in March 2011, Vado got quiet, with rumors floating that he had subsequently been dropped from the imprint. During an interview with XXLMag.com, the Harlem, New York rapper said that he instead asked for his walking papers and felt that he didn't make the right decision to go with the label.

"The Interscope deal, if you want me to be honest with you, I feel like I shouldn’t have even went all the way to the West Coast," he said. "I feel I should’ve stayed grounded with the New York labels. They understand and know me so they know how to handle me, they know what to do. You go all the way over there; they don’t know what’s going on. So now, I gotta fix everything up and I gotta work with their music. It was just a whole big difference to the point that I had to ask for my walking papers."

Vado, who is currently prepping his Slime Flu 3 project, said that Interscope was "under construction" and that the label let him go without any trouble. "Never. I was never dropped. They gave me too much money. I walked off. They gave me the opportunity to leave so I left. They [weren’t] helping me in no shape or form. For example, with Chief Keef, they just threw his album out there without even building it or nothing. Interscope is the type where you just got to do it on your own. So you know like, TDE is helping Kendrick, Game is doing everything on his own, from getting the features and beats and putting it out on his own, so it’s sort of like play at your own risk over there. So I had to get back over here. I’m not over there on the West, I’m over here with people that’s seen me grow up at these labels. This is where I wanna be and they want me here.

20 Comments

Anonymous

"Never. I was never dropped. They gave me too much money. I walked off"
Why would they pay you to walk off? I bet he didn't fulfill his contract, and with no foreseable album in the future, Interscope simply cut their losses.

Anonymous

Anonymous

ALL THIS BS TALK ABOUT HOW MAINSTREAM HIPHOP IS WACK, OR IT IS SELLING OUT OR IT IS KILLING HIPHOP BLA BLA BLAH...RECORDS COMPANIES ARE IN THE BUSINESS OF "MAKING MONEY" YOU RETARDS.U SO CALLED HIPHOP HEADS DONT BUY THE SO CALLED "REAL" HIPHOP ALBUMS.U FOOLS DOWNLOAD IT FOR FREE.BUT THE PEOPLE WHO LIKE THE SELL OUT POP SOUNDING HIPHOP THEY BUY THEIR ALBUMS....SO WAHT THE FUCK U THINK THE RECORD COMPANIES GONNA DO!!!??? OF COURSE THEY GONNA START SELLING THE SO CALLED POP,BASIC,ABCD GIMMICK HIPHOP OR RAP MUSIC COZ THEY BILLS AND STAFF TO PAY.RECORD COMPANIES AINT IN THE BUSINESS OF PRESERVING HIPHOP.IT IS CHEAPER TO SIGN A NO SKILL RAPPER WHO GOT AN ANGLE.LIKE THE RETARDS TRINIDAD JAMES,SOULJA BOY,2CHAINZ,WAKA ETC.THEY AINT GOT NO RAP SKILL,...BUT THEY DRESSES AND TALKS LIKE A BRAIN DEAD FOOLS...THE KIDS LOVE THAT "ANGLE" AND THEY GET INTRESTED.IT IS CHEAPER TO SIGN TIME,THEY DONT SPEND TIME WRITING THEIR LYRICS,THEY COME UP WITH N ALBUM IN 2DAYS,U CAN PAY EM PEANUTS...BINGO...RCORD COMPANIES GET 2 OR 3 SINGLES GO 2X PLAT...AND MAYBE GOLD ALBUM....
YALL DISS FLO RIDA FOR SELLING OUT...HE MAKES GOOD MUSIC,IF HE TRIED RAPPER HARD YALL WOULD DISS HIM SAYING "HE INT ABOUT THAT LIFE"(I HATE THAT STATEMENT BY THE WAY BCOS MOST OF YALL FANS DONT KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS ANYWAY).BUT HE HAS A GOOD REASON TO "SELL OUT" COZ HE IS SELLING MAD SINGLES.HE IS THE ONLY "RAPPER" TOPPING ITUNES LIST IN OVER 13 COUNTRIES-SELLING MAD SINGLES THAT IS...NOT EVEN JAY-Z AND KANYE GOT THAT.CHECK ITUNES CHART FOR HIPHOP AROUND EUROPE,SOUTH AMERICA,JAPAN,SOUTH KOREA ETC,FLO RIDA IS THE ONLY DUDE SELLING MAD.SO WHY WOULDNT THE LABEL PUSH HIS MUSIC?...ROSS RAPS WHAT YALL WANNA HEAR...GUNS..BITCHES...COKE...LIVING THE LIFE AND YALL STILL DONT LIKE HIM...50 DOES THE SAME YALL DIDNT BUY HIS LAST PROJECT ENUF...SO Y YALL MAD THAT HIPHOP IS DYING? YALL KILLED IT BITCHES....

Anonymous

Big Dan

You got dropped, you left, doesn't matter. You are now without a major label deal and you've been quiet since. You've got bigger problems that worrying about whether people think you were dropped or not.

IPOPOFF

Anonymous

I always thought Vado was okay.If it weren't for Cam I would have never really heard of him.Large on the streets was a dope track though..Other than that Interscope isn't the place you go if you want to evolve unless you have that co-sign like a Dre or Akon or Em...

DJ Game

Anonymous

coulda told you that.
Interscope doesnt build artists. They take artists that have a buzz then throw out their album within a year of them signing. And its getting to the point just about all major labels are like that. You gotta be signed to an artist thats already on the major to actually have them build you up. Keef is a perfect example. Interscope found him and then pushed his album out in less than a year. whereas with people like Eminem who was signed to Dre, 50 who was signed to dre and em, or even Lady Gaga who was signed to Akon, those people were groomed by the artists and then built up to be superstars. Major labels dont know how to do that anymore.
They sign you, rush your album, then blame you for not putting up big numbers.